Julio Marcelo Fleitas Silveira (born 1 September 1973) is an Ecuadorian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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and former player who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, Fleitas is a retired player that played most of his professional career in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. Although he is Uruguayan by birth, he is a curiosity because he has never played for any professional team of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in any division. When he was just starting his career, he moved to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and played there for small lower division clubs

Leandro Alem Leandro Nicéforo Alem (born Leandro Alén; 11 March 1841 – 1 July 1896) was an Argentine politician, founder and leader of the Radical Civic Union. He was the uncle and political teacher of Hipólito Yrigoyen. He was also an active Freema ...

and

Defensa y Justicia Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.

before travelling to

to play for Olmedo. In

Riobamba Riobamba (, full name San Pedro de Riobamba; Quechua: ''Rispampa'') is the capital of Chimborazo Province in central Ecuador, and is located in the Chambo River Valley of the Andes. It is south of Ecuador's capital Quito and located at an eleva ...

, Fleitas quickly showed that he was a very versatile, brave, fast and valuable defender, helping CD Olmedo to win their first and only Ecuadorian title in 2000. He played there for 3 seasons before signing for

Barcelona S.C. Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

for two seasons, where he also played very well, but the club's poor performance in both seasons made him leave the club. Then he was transferred to

Deportivo Cuenca Club Deportivo Cuenca is an Ecuadorian football club based in Cuenca. They currently play in the Serie A, the top-flight football league in the country, and is one of two clubs from Cuenca to have played in the top-flight (the other being LDU ...

where he played the last 3 seasons and where he helped the team to qualify to two consecutive

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

and he became one of the team's captains. Before the end of 2008 he was transferred to Emelec due to

's financial crisis.

International career

Fleitas has played for over 8 seasons in the Ecuadorian league and because of this he decided to become an Ecuadorian citizen. Since he was never capped for his country of birth (Uruguay), he is eligible to play for the Ecuador national team. He received his first call-up for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

. He received his first cap on June 7, 2009 against Peru in a game that Ecuador won, 1-2.

References

External links

*
Marcelo Fleitas
at BDFA.com.ar * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleitas, Marcelo 1973 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan emigrants to Ecuador Naturalized citizens of Ecuador Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan footballers Ecuadorian footballers Ecuador men's international footballers Defensa y Justicia footballers C.D. Olmedo footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers C.D. Cuenca footballers C.S. Emelec footballers Ecuadorian Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Ecuador Ecuadorian football managers C.S. Emelec managers S.D. Quito managers C.S.D. Macará managers Fuerza Amarilla S.C. managers